Virtual BLAST at the ISM

The ISM was host to a special presentation today titled "Virtual BLAST". It was given by Matt Truch (SL: Half Moo), a physics graduate student from Brown University who is on the BLAST team.

BLAST (Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Sub-millimeter Telescope) is a scientific ballooning project dedicated to understanding the origins of the universe. Last December, BLAST flew from a Long Duration Balloon over Antarctica. By providing the first sensitive large-area submillimeter surveys at these wavelengths, BLAST will address some of the most important cosmological and Galactic questions regarding the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies and clusters.

Virtual BLAST brought a detailed recreation of the gondola and telescope to Second Life. Virtual BLAST will be flew over the SL main grid on Saturday, visiting several educational and scientific builds. The BLAST crew will be handed out scientific ballooning goodies and spreading the word about balloon-borne scientific achievements.

This event was brought to Second Life by the Immersive Media Team at Johnson & Wales University, including Professor Hilary Mason (SL: Ann Enigma) and students Kyle Pouliot (SL: Kyle Childs), Bjorn Minde (SL: Bjornson Donaldo), and Chris Hempel (SL: misterchris Oxberger).

BLAST is funded by grants from the NSF and NASA.

Real Life BLAST related websites:

BLAST

http://ketiltrout.net/ice/ ?

Gaelen Marsden

Matt Truch